Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Claiming that party had been robbed of its election symbol which was a grave injustice to the entire population of the country, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s on Monday withdrew its petition seeking contempt proceedings against the Election Commission of Pakistan for not providing the party a level playing field for upcoming general elections.
As the hearing of the PTI’s appeal began in the Supreme Court on Monday, counsel Latif Khosa said the party would like to go to the people’s court for the survival of democracy. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice MusarratHilali, heard the case.
“We want to go to the court of 250 million people,” he asserted, and told the CJP: “Thank you very much.” CJP Qazi Faez Isa asked: “Do you want to pursue the case or not?” Khosa replied that he had been instructed to withdraw the application.
“We came to you for a level playing field for fair and transparent elections, but you deprived us of 230 seats through the judgement,” he remarked, adding that people had been allotted symbols like glass, eggplant, bowl etc. “We have been humiliated,” the lawyer said.
In response, CJP Isa said whether they wanted to accept the court’s decision or not was their choice, adding that the judges should not be blamed for the court’s verdict.
Latif Khosa told the CJP the court had snatched the field from the PTI and insulted the party.
“A party is being banned by evicting it from parliament,” he added. “All the PTI candidates will contest elections as independent candidates and suffer from confusion.” Justice Hilali asked if Khosa thought the elections were not going to be transparent. He replied that the elections were totally unfair.
Khosa further said that they rendered sacrifices for the judiciary. At this, the CJP said he should allow the judges to speak to. “It is not appropriate to talk about another case during the present case,” CJP Isa remarked. “Do not blame us for the Supreme Court’s decision,” he added.
Khosa asked that if the Awami National Party could be returned its election symbol by the Election Commission of Pakistan, why not the PTI. The CJP remarked that they found out yesterday that there was still time according to the Awami National Party’s constitution and told Khosa he was destroying all the national institutions.
